10 Facts About Albany You Probably Didn’t Know

1. Jimmy Fallon went to college at Saint Rose - The comedian and late-night host who we know and love also worked as a receptionist at Metroland, Times Union says.

2. The Empire State Plaza connects 11 buildings, and cost $1.7 billion to build. It is also home to over 900,000 cubic yards of concrete, according to Albany.org.

3. Herman Melville lived here - That's right! In between writing poems and novels, the Moby Dick author spent his time in Albany and attended the Albany Classical School studying literature.

4. Theodore Rooseveltoften ran the steps of the Capitol building - this is how Roosevelt got his daily exercise in. Amazing Albany Facts says that if reporters wanted an interview with Roosevelt, they first had to beat him to the top of the steps.

5. Albany has a Dutch heritage - Albany was settled by the Dutch, and was even called Beverwyck, or "Beaver District" for a time, to honor the animal that was essential in fur trade for the Dutch.

6. Modern toilet paper was invented here - An Albany resident patented the use of perforated toilet paper. In other words, this toilet paper was positioned around a roll and was easily torn.

7. Washington Park is built on a burial ground - That's right, beautiful Washington Park was originally a cemetery. In the 1840s, after the blueprints for the park were created, over 40,000 bodies were displaced from the [now] park to the Albany Rural Cemetery. Haunted much!

8. The Capitol took 30 years to build - the building also has 17 steps on Western entrance, and 77 steps on Eastern entrance, to represent the year 1777, Albany.org says.

9. Albany is the eleventh largest city in New York - Albany may be New York's capital, but it definitely isn't the biggest city in NY by a long shot.

10. Albany was home to underground railroad stops, and the Eastern New York Anti-Slavery Society, formed in 1842, held their meetings in the old City Hall building in Albany.